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DirecTV

DirecTV review: overcharged 17

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11:21 am EST
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We've been loyal Direct TV customers for between 10 and 15 year non-stop. I added a receiver and channels three months ago, then ended up switching to FIOS this month. My cancellation fee was over $420. I was never notified that my contract would renew, or that I would be subject to cancellation fees this high if I disconnected service. I have spoken to two Customer 'Service' reps and both refused to help me. I guess being a 15 year customer means nothing to them.

Also, we had NBA League Pass for about 5 years and canceled it 5 years ago. Ever since, the service has been automatically added to my account twice a year for 5 years straight. This is a $50/month addition. Luckily, we've been able to catch this mistake several times in the past two years, but we have no clue how many bills were paid with this additional fee unnoticed.

Despite multiple calls yearly to fix the problem, it was never fixed. The last time it happened, I mistakenly paid the fee, and was granted a credit. Within two months, the credit never appeared. I asked again and again, and finally, I was given $10/month off for my next 6 bills. When I was hit with the $420 disconnect fee as described earlier, Direct TV would not allow me to apply any of that credit to my payment.

Lastly, when my additional receiver was ordered, we had an all-day service window, to which the installer never showed up. We even spoke to him 4 times. Each time, he assured us he was on the way. We ended up rescheduling and finally receiving service a week late.

Buyer Beware!

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The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.

17 comments
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Valerie
Valerie
US
Nov 06, 2008 10:54 am EST

About six months ago, I got a Direct TV satellite and two receivers for my house. The service worked well enough and the bill was reasonable until I found that the cable service in my area had better HD support. So yesterday, I call up Direct TV to cancel. No problem says the rep, you'll just have to pay a cancellation fee of $420.00. I still have my initial contract that I signed for Direct TV that has no mention whatsoever of any kind of cancellation fee. The rep told me that the fee was a result of 'any fees or changes therein that may occur'. Terribly vague if you ask me and $420.00 is too much of a cost to eat. Buyer beware.

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JayCeeVee
Nov 23, 2008 4:35 pm EST

When you sign up with DIRECTV you have a service commitment, for advanced receivers 24 months (HD/HD DVR/DVR types); for standard receivers 18 months. If you disconnect prior to the end of the service commitment you pay $20 per month for advanced receiver(s) for the balance of the commitment. This is explained at time of signup. My cell phone has a service commitment also so this should be no surprise.

Valerie
Valerie
US
Dec 01, 2008 7:23 am EST

I had DIRECT TV for over 2 years and fulfilled my 2 year contract. I called them to cancel. They told me they were going to charge me an Early termination fee and a total charge for about 217.00. So I filed a Dispute with the Better Busines Bureau whom has been very helpful at resolving disputes about different things in the past. And decant company's Do work with you.

Not DIRECT TV they came back and said I Owed 610.00 How did it go from 210.00. to 610.00. I know other people who have had problems with Direct TV and they don't care. I just want to Warn people about DIRECT TV so they DON'T have the same problem. To STAY away from this company. I was warned a year ago by a friend about them and told myself this wont happen to me. Will it did. I am very upset about this.

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Mitchell
US
May 07, 2009 12:41 pm EDT

I signed up for Direct TV a year ago on a program that gave me a few months of low fees - $50 or so - which would rise to near $100 after the trial period. Now that I've been on the program for a year, they've boosted my fees by another $20, saying that was part of the original bargain. If it was, the terms were buried in fine print. It will cost me $240 to discontinue Direct TV. Once my contract with them is up, I will get off their stinking program and put up an antenna. This is another example of capitalist corporate greed. May Direct TV and its detestable minions be cursed forever.

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diamun
US
Jul 22, 2009 6:20 pm EDT

HOW CAN DIRECT TV STILL BE IN BUSINESS?

I read these complaints and it is just a few, but a few very bad deals.

Imagine all that we HAVE NOT READ?

EEEeeeeeeeeeek.

BBB better on them big time.

NO Thanks Direct TV, all their ads in the trash ...FAST!

BUYER BE VERY AWARE...DONT DO IT

DIRECT TV SCAMMERS

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Felixx
US
Sep 16, 2009 5:24 pm EDT

I contacted Direct in February to imform them that my receiver wasn't showing incoming calls on my TV screen. They couldn't find any problems and told me to call my phone service provider about my caller ID(AT&T}.I have had caller ID over 2 years and it has always worked. AT&T would send me back to Direct. I called them three or four times over a 1 month time span, in the Middle of March I called and ask them to replace my HD box because my caller ID works. I started my service in Dec.2008.They sent me a new one after debating with her that I shouldn't be charge for a new box because the old one never worked properly. When I received the new box, Mar.23rd I connected it and called for it to be activated. WHAT A SHOCKER, I was informed that I had over a $500.00 cable bill and would have to pay $72 right then in order for them to activate my new box, and it had to be paid by Apr.12 to keep my service from being interrupted. They cut it off on Apr.3rd and told me I had to pay the full amount. I never watched one pay per view and they was all Xrated, Idon't even watch that stuff. I ask why haven't any showed up on my Feb. or Mar. bills. Received a statement for2/21-3/20 in Feb.$94.59[due date 3/13]in Mar.$535.35 due date immediately, service interruption date 04/13/09 statementdated 3/22/09, as I said earlier they cut it off on Apr.3.The lady said that they had all just showed up. So where was Jan29 thru Feb.28 hid. I told them either my equipment is faulty or theres fraud, because I haven, t ordered not one movie of any kind Xrated or PG. I'm on a fix income I can't even dream about throwing that kind of money away. I wrote the dispute department they was no help, and Dish is doing the same thing. Thank you for listening, If you pay attention to the times, you'll know no one watches TV like that[9am, 9am, 10:30am, 10:30am, all on the same date 01/31/09 this is just an example of what my bill looks like. The prices is $10.99&$14.99.

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Zord
US
Sep 24, 2009 2:28 pm EDT

In August 2007 I decided to order cable television. The first question asked is your social security number. I am reluctant to give that information and asked if I could do something else than give out my number. I was told that they (Direct T V ) could charge a credit card $300.00 (Three hundred} and if at the end of one year, if all payments had been timely they would credit my bill by $10.00 a month.

After having the service for 6 months I decided it was not worth the money and cancelled the cable. I was told I would be charged for the six months left on my contract. My credit card was charged an addition $68.00

I have called on several occasions and been given different reasons why they won't return the deposit.

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1AngryMom
Morgan Hill, US
Sep 27, 2009 7:02 pm EDT

They most likely put your deposit towards the early termination fee, which is exorbitant. The $68 would be the remainder of what you owed for the last 6 months. I hate DTV.

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waedekin
Ennis, US
Oct 06, 2009 6:10 pm EDT

I am having the similar problem with direct tv. I have been fighting with direct tv for the past 2 years about them double charging me on my bill and i cant get there rude hateful customer service people to fix the problem this year alone i have recieved about $1100 in credits on my account and they are still double charging me. So last month i continue to argue with them about the double billing on my account so i put off paying the bill last month and so the turned my system off after i have been a customer for 17 years. I payed them $450.00 to get service turned back on and they refuse to turn it on and refuse to give me credit for the money i have overpayed for the last 2 years.

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Trishta
US
Oct 13, 2009 1:27 pm EDT

We have looked at DirecTV.com for their rate plans and called them for a satellite service.

When called for service we had asked for Family Plan for $29.99/month, Hindi Direct II for $39.99/month and ETV(extra channel) for an extra payment of $3/month. On top of this there was a cable box fee of $5/month. Adding all these up would bring the total to $77.98/month. Then, and even now, they have a $23/month credit for one year for new customers. After applying this credit, our expected bill was $54.98/month for one year + taxes. I had asked the sales person to send me an email confirming the same which they never did. They didn't even send me an email with what I had signed up for and what would it cost me per month. This is their first step towards their deceptive practices. This way I wouldn't know how much it is going to be. And once I had this installed in my house they can charge me anything that they would like to.

About two weeks later, we have received the bill and it was for $108.44. We called Direct TV to find out why this was so high than what I was told, they said the rates I was told by their sales person was incorrect. And was told they cannot do anything about it.

Then I had asked them to cancel the service and they did the same. I had sent back the cable boxes to Direct TV as well.

A week later, I was sent another bill for approximately $375 for early termination. This was never discussed nor wsa I told during the signing up process or during cancellation. I had to cancel their service only because they had promised some rates for their service and sent me bill for almost for double. Even today the rates I had mentioned for their service are true on their web site. I am not sure why they came up with $108.44

Direct TV's sales force are not trustworthy and do deceptive marketting/sales to get you into a contract that was never discussed or never sent in an email.

I had also tried to speak to many representatives and relolution supervisors (Carline and Eric)for many hours at length. They did not solve this issue and asked me to pay this early termination fee which I was never told about.

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steve Hackman
Marco Island, US
Nov 01, 2009 3:14 pm EST

Direct TV is overcharging me as i see lots of others have also complained about. Customer service is nonexistent. They only want your money. I would like to get several of us together and consider filing a class action suit.
Anyone else want to pursue this?

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kielirae
Hayden Lake, US
Jul 14, 2010 8:12 pm EDT
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

We literally just went through almost the exact same thing! Ours is 450 though! How is this legal?

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john_falkosita
Somerset, US
Nov 13, 2010 3:14 pm EST

Direct TV is very shady about their pricing. I was on the phone with a customer service rep oce for about an hour just trying to figure out how much each package costs, before and after the initial discounts. Not to mention the "rebate" system. Why are the $29.99 rebates needed if you are signing a contract? Just another way to possibly scam you out of money.

My advice, do not agree to activation until you have fully read and understand the contract. Your contract is not valid until your service is activated. Too many people sign up for services that they don't understand and then complaain

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appachi99
Biwabik, US
Feb 09, 2011 1:24 am EST

Direct TV will do whatever it takes to get their hand deep into your pocket. Legal, illegal, unscrupulous, or just plain lie to you. Just" GET THAT MONEY". It don't matter how.
A girl from Direct contacted me, offered this great package with free HBO for three months and some other perks. OK. The installer came out, installed everything, called the office, handed me the phone and said the office wants to talk with you. "Sir, I'll need your Soc. Sec. #". I don't give that to ANYONE. Then you'll have to give the installer $50.00 before we can activate your account. During the sign-up, money or soc. sec#'s were never mentioned.
RED FLAG! Me to installer: Take your equipment, I decided not to get involved with Direct TV. The punk, in regular Direct TV fashion, took the box and left everything else scattered around the floor, left The Dish Networks dish lying on the ground outside, and left. Dish Network charged me $125.00 to come out and hook things back up. I have absolutely nothing good to say about Direct TV, nothing.

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appachi99
Biwabik, US
Feb 09, 2011 1:27 am EST

Bla, bla

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appachi99
Biwabik, US
Feb 09, 2011 1:30 am EST

See how impossible Direct TV makes it to really get in here to make a statement?

Name in full
Phone number
Address
City
State
Male or female

Like they really need this info to process your comments.

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Vicki L Hollins
Waxahachie, US
Apr 25, 2011 2:40 pm EDT

These people took unauthorized money from our account after THEY were unable to install their service when we moved. They promised on 5 different occasions to refund the $$ on a certain day; when that day came and went and I called them yet again, I was then given another date 2 weeks away that it would be refunded. These people are crooks and thieves. I would sit and twiddle my thumbs before I'd ever have them as a cable service. THEY SUCK! They lie and hold on to money that is not rightfully theirs. I have had a statement for over a month showing a CREDIT BALANCE. BEWARE OF THIS COMPANY AND THEIR UNETHICAL BUSINESS PRACTICES.

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